What convinced the Jedi Council that Darth Maul was a Sith?

I think that they notice that Darth Maul was a sith when they see Qui-Gon Jinn`s body, that it was killed by lightsaber and Obi-Wan obviously tell them what he saw, how Darth Maul fight and behaved and it seems that Yoda trusted Obi-Wan already.

 

That is what i was thinking. When members of the council saw Qui-Gon´s body they think that normal person couldn´t kill Jedi Master especially with lightsaber, because lightsaber is after all force sensitives weapon.

And when Qui-Gon Jinn first fight against Darth Maul on Tatooine he was sure that Maul was a Sith but Jedi council didn`t want to believe that yet, but when Obi-Wan faced Darth Maul on Naboo he sense it too that he was Sith, so then there was two Jedi´s who was fighting against Maul and sense that he was Sith, so Jedi council have to accept that Darth Maul was a Sith, they cannot denied two Jedi`s opinion.
And maybe Yoda sense something about Darth Maul after he hear that Maul killed Qui-Gon.

 

Two things: 1) The council knows Qui-Gon would never have been bested by a mere dark jedi, 2) Obi-Wan's report on the details of the fight -- i.e. Maul's force abilities, his lightsaber skill, and the intense hate that sith emit, which is also visible in their distinctive red/yellow eyes.

 

This sounds the most reasonable, and the option I was thinking when I read your original post.

Quite frankly the Jedi had become stagnant and quite aloof to things at large, meaning it was easier for the Sith to live on in the background. One could even say the oversaturation of powerful Light Side users when the Jedi were in power aided in this, clouding everything and allowing a handful of Sith to exist (which was part of the point of the Rule of Two, wasn't it?). In other words, maybe the Light Side was "too bright".

Needless to say, after Qui-Gon was killed some of the higher-ups started to seriously doubt themselves. It's like they went full-on depression mode about it.

 

I'm not so sure they all don't believe him, only 3 responded in the films initially.
Before the funeral there is another scene where mace says " That is the clue we need to unravel this mystery of the Sith." Which points that maybe mace feels it could be true.

The battle on tatooine was very short and maul only showcased his skills with a light sabre if I recall correctly. There was no pure signs of force sensitivity, so I think the council were right to want some more evidence... They sure got the evidence and as others mentioned, the fact that it was seen by obi wan as well probably helped sway them.

 

Red lightsaber, duh.

 

Yep that's enough proof.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 15, 2015, Original Post Date: Aug 15, 2015 ---

 

Because they are always two of them. Apprentice and a Master. Sith is never alone.

 

My impression was that the Council suspected that the Sith would some day return. When they were told that the Sith had in fact come back, they just didn't want to believe it. Qui-Gon's death made that impossible.

The prequels are all about showing how blind the Jedi Order was, both to what was going on in the galaxy and to its own failing. The Council refusing to believe Qui-Gon Jinn was our first glimpse of that.

 

Yes. For 1000 of years jedi did not have any real threat. So they lost their way.
Their powers weakened.

Sith took advantage of this period of weakness, and they won. But Sith waited 1000 years for that to happen.